New to this connect site, & totally confused......

I had a scary trip to the er a few wks ago & was told my heart skips more than it should. The er dr told me to follow-up the next day with my reg. dr. I did this & am now in the dark more than ever & feel alone with no rhymn nor reason for what is happening. Does anyone else have this type of issue or any suggestions on how to push a dr to give me the good or bad of things??????

12 replies

I fail to see why your family doctor didn't refer you to a cardiologist or at least order an event monitor. My family doctor did.

It turns out that I do have atrial fibrillation despite I had no symptoms other than short episodes of strong, erratic heartbeats on occasion (that I was aware of) - like once a month.

I had one "critical" event and one "serious" event whilst wearing the event monitor for 30 days. I also have other, milder events during that month that I was not aware of until we got the event monitor results back.

Perplexed: That is the way it is where I live, I call it the backwoods…no one here likes the word "change" from what I have seen & been through so far. I will continue to ask questions & research to figure out what is happening because I had a T.I.A. when I was 19 & my grandfather died of a heart attack. I don't like being in the dark on health issues. Thank you for your reply very much appreciated…

Perplexed, glad to see you are still out there. You bring a great deal of useful insight and experience to the discussion. Kaiya, Perplexed echoes similar sentiments. Find a doc that will do a Holter/Event monitor!

You cannot act effectively without knowledge. The Holter test is painless and effective.

HeartHawk & Perplexed: I have had the holter & have skipped beats but that is all I have been told every time I ask for the exact diagnosis it seems to get ignored. I am so disappointed with the health care system here. They have cut so much. I will coninue to fight for the answers. I definitely need to know it . It is my life they are messing with!!!!!

HeartHawk: I live in an area that I call the backwoods, everything here is limited. I have searched to see if there was a better dr in this area & there are none at the moment. To get a good dr I would have to travel 8hrs 1 way across state. Sadly I can't afford that. So I am in the long run paying for bad drs with my health. I want to move, but its not in the buget…(sigh)

Welcome aboard! Skipped beats are really quite common and I suffer from a form called Premature Atrial Contractions (PACs). Any beat that is not part of your normal "sinus rhythm" is known as an ectopic beat and virtually everyone has them fromtime to time and they are generally benign.

The trick is to discern how often and what type of ectopic beats you are having. This generally invoives a long-term electrocardiogram known as a Holter Monitor test (although newer test technically does not use the older Holter monitor device). Essentailly you are wired to small electronic device you can wear on a belt for a day or more that records every heart beat. The recording is then interpretted by your doc to detemine the frequency and severity of your ectopic beats.

If there are any concerns your doc may refer you to an electrophysiologist who may attempt to induce the ectopic beats and then look for ways to eliminate them.

Most often, skipped beats are not life threatening but can cause a great deal of anxiety which only makes the problem worse. I found that 25-50 mg of atenolol works great when my PACs get bothersome but each situation is different.

Keep in touch and let us know how things go with your docs and any tests or treatments prescribed. Once you know more about what your specific situation is you will find plenty of help and info here.

Click on this and it may explain more of this issue for you. As it can be a caused by some other medications you may be taking. If not, I reccommend that you look for a cardiologist and not a family physcian. They deal with more heart issues on a daily basis.

Re1ndeer: Thank you for the artical. My dr has never told me what happened to cause this nor did he mention anything about afib. I had pressure in my chest, but no pain, severe headache, dizziness, & really nauseated & weak. I had a TIA when I was 19 brought on by a screaming match…needless to say I don't scream anymore :-/ . Not sure if I am ever going to get a straight answer from the dr. My symtoms have been off & on today so am a little out of sorts so I do apologize if I spelled anything wrong.

Kaiya, sometimes we have to "push" our doctors. No one has a more vested interest in our health than we do. My ONLY symptoms were the strong, erratic heartbeats. AND as happened w/me we CAN have events we aren't even aware of. Especially since you've had a TIA at one time it is worth pushing for a 30 day event monitor. Good luck and God bless.

If you continue to have symptoms, and your doctor does not do anything for you, go find another doctor. Or go to the local hospital and tell them what your symptoms are, they should be able to help you.